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Iowa lawmakers heard pleas Wednesday for legalized medical marijuana from a Des Moines grandmother who smokes pot to relieve her symptoms and the partner of a Boone man with brain cancer who wants another option to reduce his suffering.

Medical marijuana is a dead issue this session because of a lack of support in the Legislature, but it’s certain to return next year, say proponents of medical cannabis. Sens. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, and Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, chaired meetings of two state Senate committees on Wednesday where they invited Iowans who talked favorably about legalizing the drug.

Medical marijuana is currently legal in 20 states and the District of Columbia with a doctor’s recommendation, while several other states, including Minnesota, are considering legalization. None of the invited speakers spoke against legalizing medical marijuana.

Connie Norgart of Des Moines, 59, a retired nurse who has two grandchildren, told lawmakers she contracted polio as an infant and has suffered chronic severe pain for years from post-polio syndrome.

Last year she tried smoking illegal pot for two months. It made her more alert and happier and she slept all night pain-free, she said.

“I have been a criminal,” Norgart acknowledged. But she made no apologies, saying it improved her quality of life and made her feel better than she had in years.

“This medicine takes away all my pain for many hours. … I want to be able to play with my grandkids without pain,” Norgart said. Synthetic drugs often are accompanied by complications, she added.

Ryan Weidner, 35, of Boone spoke of how his partner and fiance, Josh Myers, 31, suffers from inoperable brain cancer that was discovered last spring.

“I can say that I realize that medical cannabis won’t cure him, but I think that the doctor should be able to prescribe it,” Weidner said. The medication his partner takes can cause nausea and vomiting and a loss of appetite, he noted.

Sally Gaer spoke as well. She and her husband, West Des Moines Mayor Steve Gaer, have previously talked publicly about the medical problems faced by their 24-year-old daughter, Margaret. She has Dravet Syndrome, a rare form of epilepsy that causes frequent violent seizures that have severely impaired her development.

Sally Gaer said she has followed the progress of children in Colorado who have had access to medical cannabis that has reduced their seizures and improved cognitive development. But a move to Colorado would force them to leave family and friends, she explained.

“There is still time in this legislative session to do something for Iowa’s most medically fragile,”she said.

Dr. Thomas Carlstrom, a retired neurosurgeon from Des Moines, and Frank Caligiuri, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Drake University, also testified.

“Marijuana will help with seizure control when all the others don’t. That is a very well-known and well-accepted fact. … It is also effective for a number of other things,” including a loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting, Carlstrom said.

Caligiuri said the first use of medical cannabis dates back more than 4,000 years, so there is longstanding history and data that support the use of it.

Bolkcom and McCoy issued a joint statement Wednesday saying the situation that people seeking the legal use of medical cannabis face is very disturbing. Lifelong Iowans, including returning veterans and very young children, are leaving their homes to get the medicine they need, they said.

“Both the problem and the solution lie squarely with the Legislature and Gov. Branstad. There is no reason why Iowa would be unable to establish a responsible, well-regulated way to provide medical cannabis to patients under a doctor’s care, just as we already do for much more dangerous, addictive drugs that have a medical purpose,” the two lawmakers said.